Versions: 2D 2017.01 and later, 3D 2017 and later

Introduction

The PLAXIS Output program offers the possibility of using the command line to configure the plot settings to export a plot to an image file to be used in post-processing. In this article, different options are explained providing information on the relevant options that are available.

For automation purposes, the equivalent Python commands are provided in the article Export and format plots from PLAXIS Output using Python

Contents

• Plot settings
• ResultTypes
• PlotType
• LegendSettings
• MeshSettings
• Phase & PhaseBehaviour
• Other visualization commands
• Export command
• Comments

Plot settings

To view the current settings applied to the last plot created in Output, one can use the echo Plots[-1] command:

Figure 1. Current settings of Plots[-1] (last plot created)

In the picture above you can identify different options that can be edited with the set command using the syntax below:

Show the rulers in your plot:

• set Plots[-1].DrawRulers True

Hide the axes:

• set Plots[-1].DrawAxes False

Exclude the legend of the plot:

• set Plots[-1].DrawLegend False

Figure 2. Current view of the plot in PLAXIS Output

Below are some special items in the properties of a plot object that concern every plot to be exported:

• ResultTypes
• PlotType
• LegendSettings
• MeshSettings

These will be explained in more details below.

ResultTypes

The ResultTypes is the property that controls which result is visualized in the plot. This is related to the numerous options available via the menus, e.g. Deformations, Stresses, Forces, etc.

Some examples are provided below:

Set the plot result to Total horizontal displacement u_x:

• set Plots[-1].ResultType ResultTypes.Soil.Ux

Set the plot result to Incremental vertical cartesian strains: Δε_yy:

• set Plots[-1].ResultType ResultTypes.Soil.dEpsyy

Set the plot results to Active pore pressures:

• set Plots[-1].ResultType ResultTypes.Soil.PActive

Figure 3. Plot set to show the Active pore pressures

PlotType

For every plot you can also switch between the available visualisation options of the results:

Set the plot type to show the Contour lines instead of the Shadings:

• set Plots[-1].PlotType "ContourLines"

Set the plot type to show the Coloured principal directions of a plot. Note that this is relevant to some of the plots, such as the stresses and pore pressure plots:

• set Plots[-1].PlotType "PrincipalDirections"

In any case that a typo is made, the error message contains all allowed values for the command.

Figure 4. Coloured principal direction with legend shown

Figure 5. Error message displayed for assistance

LegendSettings

This allows for changing the settings of the legend that is next to the plot. For example:

Change the number of intervals of the legend to 10:

• set Plots[-1].LegendSettings.Intervals 10

Set the minimum value of the legend to -160 in project units:

• set Plots[-1].LegendSettings.MinValue -160

Figure 6. Minimum value specified for legend

MeshSettings

Various options about the current visualisation of the mesh are stored in the MeshSettings of a plot. For example:

Show the Phreatic level in the plot:

• set Plots[-1].MeshSettings.PhreaticLevel True

Show the Fixities of the model:

• set Plots[-1].MeshSettings.Fixities True

Hide the Cluster contours of the model:

• set Plots[-1].MeshSettings.ClusterContours False

Figure 7. Fixities displayed without a phreatic level representation

Phase and PhaseBehaviour

Every plot in PLAXIS Output has a Phase property, which corresponds to the phase for which the results are being displayed.

By default, the Phase property is set to the phase selected in Input when the command is run to view the results, or it is set to the phase selected when a project is opened directly in Output.

In the GUI (Graphic User Interface) it is possible to switch to any other phase in Output program using the dropdown box from the top bar, however, the internal Phase property of the plot remains unchanged.

You can query the Phase property using the echo command:

echo Plots[-1].Phase

To change the Phase property, you can directly set it using the command:

set Plots[-1].Phase Phase_x

Along with the Phase property, the PhaseBehaviour property allows for controlling to which phase the Phase property will be set to for the current plot when used in automation.

The PhaseBehaviour property has two options:

• projectphase : current Plot object has the same phase as to the one that will be used to export
• plotphase : current Plot object has its own phase, independent to the one that will be used to export

By default, the PhaseBehaviour is set to plotphase, which means that any change via the GUI does not make any change to the internal Phase property. The Phase property is used for export options via command line and/or with remote scripting facilities (Python).

You can change the PhaseBehaviour behaviour with the command:

set Plots[-1].PhaseBehaviour "projectphase"

 Other visualization commands

Show/Hide

An Output plot can contain various objects (soil elements, plate elements, interfaces, loads,etc). In complex models where many objects are included, it is possible to hide or show them in order to make the plot easier for review. A few examples for the hide command are given below. Note that in order to show the objects you can use the show command in place of the hide command.

• hide Plots[-1] Plates  # hides all plates in the visualisation
• hide Plots[-1] Plate_1_1  # only hides the specific plate in the visualisation
• hide Plots[-1] WaterLoads  # hides any external waterloads in the visualisation
• hide Plots[-1] LineLoads[0][1]  # only hides the line load, e.g. LineLoad_1_2

Zoom

In many cases to review the results, the focus needs to be adjusted to a smaller part of the model. On this occasion, the zoom command can be used.
A few examples for the zoom command  are given below:

• zoom Plots[-1]  # resets the zoom to show the whole model inside the plot’s size
• zoom Plots[-1] Plate_2  # zooms to fit Plate_2 into the plot’s visualisation
• zoom Plots[-1] (0 1)  # zooms the plot centering to point (0 1)
• zoom Plots[-1] (0 1) (2 2)  # zooms the plot to a bounding box by points (0 1) and (2 2)

View (3D only)

The different viewpoints in PLAXIS 3D can be used to view the plot at a certain angle/side. A few examples for the  view command are given below:

• view Plots[-1] "bottom"
• view Plots[-1] "default"

Export command

After setting up the plot the final step is to use the command line to export the plot to an image file.
The export command has the following structure:

• export ObservablePlot "full_path/to_the/file.png"  1920 1080

An example is given below:

• export Plots[-1] "C:/Plaxis/Plots/my_plot.png"  1920 1080

This command will export the lastly created plot (Plots[-1]) to the location specified within the quotation marks using the width of 1920 and height of 1080 pixels.
Note that the width and height are optional parameters which can be omitted. If those parameters are not mentioned the program will export the plot using 2880 x 2160 pixels.

Note that the export command for Plots[-1] will use the value of the Phase property according to what the PhaseBehaviour dictates.

Figure 8. Exported plot

Comments

• More information on Output commands and objects can be found in our Command reference under the Help menu.
• Not all plot settings are automatically applied to the current plot PLAXIS Output is showing in the plot area
• Some plot settings require the presence of another setting to be applied correctly. For instance, this is the case of showing the results using the PrincipalDirections as a PlotType. For this, the ResultType should be set to a result that includes this visualisation, as the pore pressures or stresses do, for example.
• When multiple plots exist in PLAXIS Output, any changes to the plot settings will be applied to the plot specified. Plots[-1] always refer to the lastly created plot.
• A structural plot is considered a new plot and should be treated as such. In this case, Plot_1 will refer to the soil view (e.g. deformed mesh or deformations plot) and Plot_2 will refer to the structures view of the selected structural element.
  Here Plots[-1] refers to the structural plot.
• Not all commands are relevant for both PLAXIS 2D and PLAXIS 3D, e.g. ruler option is only available in PLAXIS 2D.